Thursday, November 19, 2009

Focus on the Ultimate to Make Your Vision Sharp

What does it take to gain the focus required to become a truly effective leader? The Apostle Paul had absolute focus on his mission – a focus that enabled him to let go of everything that was not critical to his mission. In Philippians 3:5-9, Paul willingly discarded his heritage, his lineage, his former legalism, and his past zeal in order to advance his mission.

Paul’s focus was so sharp that he discarded everything he once counted gain. But he goes beyond that: he counted everything as garbage for the sake of obtaining Christ.

Leaders who want to change the world need to have this same kind of sharp focus. The keys are priorities and concentration. A leader who knows his priorities but lacks concentration knows what to do, but never gets it done. A leader with concentration but no priorities has excellence without progress. But when leaders harness both, they gain the potential to achieve great things.

John Maxwell, writing in “The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader” says that leaders base their decisions on a variety of things:

The Ultimate – First things first

The Urgent – Loud things first

The Unpleasant – Hard things first

The Unfinished – Last things first

The Unfulfilling – Dull things first

Paul exemplifies a leader who focused on the ultimate every day. How about you? To get back on track with your focus, work on these items:

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I've Moved!

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Bob

My Backstory

My passion is helping churches THRIVE by turning challenges into opportunities. I am a son, brother, husband, father, father-in-law, and GrandBob. The 27 years that separate each of these four generations provide a rich and continual influence on my life. My wife Anita is my best friend and partner in the 3 ring circus called our family. We have 4 children - two sons with families of their own: 3 grandchildren; a daughter in divinity school; and a son in culinary school. Life is always exciting - and I wouldn't have it any other way!